Sheriffs and other officials in counties with regional jails say they are losing inmates to private prisons and fear their jails could become bankrupt.

The officials are scheduled to come to the state Capitol on Monday to voice concern about the Mississippi Department of Corrections reducing inmate numbers at regional jails.

"It appears that the only way the regionals can survive long term is that the Legislature stop funding the private company ... and give some priority to their own counties," the county officials said in a statement.

The state contracts with Utah-based Management and Training Corp. to run at least three private prisons.

According to MDOC's inmate statistics for April, there are about 3,167 inmates in private prisons and about 4,186 in the 15 regional jails.

And now, there's fear MDOC will reduce inmate numbers further in regional jails for the upcoming budget year beginning July 1, according to Holmes County Sheriff Willie March, who operates the Holmes Humphreys Regional Correctional Facility.

March and others said they have been told by MDOC that because of underfunding for regional jails in budget appropriations, hundreds of inmates could be removed.

MDOC said it is decreasing the number of inmates at regional facilities to contractual levels because it doesn’t have the money to pay counties more. MDOC plans to reduce numbers to the contractual 200 inmates for each regional jail to deal with budget shortfalls. Some of the jails house more than 300 state inmates.

Letters have been sent to all sheriffs housing inmates above the contractual level to notify them of MDOC‘s decision.

The Legislature did not fund a $3.6 million deficit in the regional program in the current budget year, MDOC said.

“I informed lawmakers in writing and at several committee hearings that the agency needed deficit appropriations for four areas: medical, private prisons, regionals and local confinement combined for a total deficit of nearly $20 million this year,” Corrections Commissioner Pelicia E. Hall said in a statement. “We took measures to erase the shortage in local confinement and communicated that. However, budget appropriations addressed deficits in private and medical only."

Senate Corrections Committee Chairman Sampson Jackson, D-DeKalb, said Friday that he will be at the Monday meeting.

Jackson said he has been told by MDOC officials that they aren't moving inmates to private prisons, but rather they are reducing inmate numbers at regional jails.

"I'm not a big fan of private prisons, but we have contracts with them," Jackson said.

March and others say one of the private prison's contracts, for the Wilkinson County Correctional Facility in Woodville, is up for renewal in June.

Jackson said he wants to hear what the sheriffs and county officials have to say, but he said one thing that has to be kept in mind is just about every state agency has received funding cuts in the last couple years.

Regional jails also saw fewer state inmates four years ago. In 2014, MDOC also moved prisoners from regional jails after sweeping criminal justice reforms took effect.

Back then, Stone County Supervisor Dale Bond said both his county and George County lost 80 inmates each over a two-week period, which resulted in a loss of $72,000 each per month.

"We can't go very long before we're deep in the hole," Bond said.

The department values its relationship with counties, Hall said in her statement, but sees no other option.

The department has been housing additional inmates at the regionals because of the closure of some the state-owned South Mississippi Correctional Institution units resulting from lack of staffing and officer safety concerns.

March said MDOC plans to reopen 400 beds at SMCI. Inmates from regional jails will be used to fill the spaces, he said.

Hall said MDOC will use existing staff for security, but won't have additional staff for other programs.

MDOC also plans to reopen the once privately run Delta Correctional Facility in Greenwood as a state-owned facility.

Hall said the Delta prison is housing offenders not classified for regionals, and MDOC is operating the Delta facility, not a private contractor. She said funds to operate the prison will come from the consolidation of four facilities.

"Our regional correctional facility is an efficient and effective cost-saving tool for MDOC," March said in a letter to Hall. "Please give us the financial resources to not only keep our staff and MDOC inmates safe, but give the inmates a better chance to obtain marketable job skills for their transition back into society."

Each regional jail can house a maximum of 250 inmates. Most were built with the promise of state inmates taking up 80 percent capacity and the state paying $20 per day for each inmate. The state increased the per-inmate, per-day rate to $29.74 more than a decade ago and $20 per inmate per day over 200 inmates.

March said regional jails can house prisoners at a significantly less cost than private prisons.

The average daily cost per inmate per day at a state correctional facility prison was $49.74 for fiscal year 2016, according to a report released last year by the state watchdog group PEER Committee. Private prisons contracts require they provide a savings of at least 10 percent below the state cost of housing inmates.

“One sheriff explicitly told MDOC to come get the inmates if the agency could not pay the full per diem of $29.74 for all inmates housed at his facility, “ Hall said, referring to March. “MDOC is now doing that, and the sheriff is now complaining.”